


I Know

by hunters_retreat



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Police, Alternative Universe - FBI, M/M, Serial Killer, dark boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 09:17:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4700564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunters_retreat/pseuds/hunters_retreat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared worked for the police.  Jensen works for the FBI.  They might not be telling everyone the whole story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Know

**Author's Note:**

  * For [violetknights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetknights/gifts).



> This work has been translated here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/4700171

 

Jared stared at the scene before him and took a deep breath, schooling his face to a neutral expression before he could give away the turmoil of his emotions.  
  
"Detective?"  
  
He turned to look at his partner and gave a quick nod to acknowledge the older man.  Jim had been saddle with Jared when he was wet under the ears and no one knew how Jared managed to stay partners with him for so long. Seven years and Jared and Jim were still partners and friends to boot.  Which made it all the harder to keep his emotions from showing.  
  
"What have we got Paddy?" Jim asked.  
  
"32 year old male, stabbed in the chest three times. He was found by the motel cleaning lady when she came in to check the room.  Someone checked out of the room but there was no video.  The clerk who checked him out doesn't remember much about him. He checked out during a rush.  All he remembered was that he had brilliant green eyes.  He's with a sketch artist now to see if they can get more details out of him."  
  
"He matches the others?"  
  
"Dark hair, hazel eyes, over 6'3".  He matches."  
  
"This is number three then."  
  
"We'll find out for sure when the ME is done with him."  Jared looked away from his partner and back to the scene. So far the forensics guys had come up empty handed.  No fingerprints, no marks, just a dead body in a motel room.  They were hoping number three would give them something but Jared knew it wouldn't.  He also knew that no one would have seen the guy coming in or leaving.  The last body, three weeks earlier, still hadn't been identified.  
  
"We get anything yet?" Jim asked as he watched the forensics team moving around the room.  
  
"They're talking to the other guests now to see if anyone got a look at them."  
  
"Did he have any ID on him?"  
  
Jared knew Jim was frustrated by the tone of his voice.  His partner was gruff and impatient at the best of times and this wasn't the best of times.  
  
"Jack Dalton.  He's a personal trainer," Jared said with disdain.  
  
"You got something against personal trainers?"  
  
"Those guys at the gym that try to rip you off by telling you how to exercise and charging you a fortune for it?"  
  
"Guess you do then," Jim said with a chuckle.  "Any connection with the last vic?"  
  
"None that we know about yet."  
  
"Come on boy, let’s get to work."

**

Jared tried not to take his work home, but this was a nasty case and a few shots were sure to help him sleep the night through.  It wasn’t this case that woke him in the middle of the night, stinking of sweat and screaming another man’s name into the cold air of his apartment.  The case that haunted him during these types of cases had actually happened before he’d joined the police force and was part of what had set him on that path.  Back then he hadn’t realized how a change encounter could change his life.  Now, it had been too many years since he’d been able to push aside coincidence and stop calling it fate

Tonight was no different as he downed another shot.  The whiskey burned down his throat the way only rotgut could.  He felt looser with each breath but as he opened his eyes the shot glass fell from his hands to be caught by the last person he’d ever thought to see again

“Jensen?” he gasped the name and cursed himself for the way the other man’s name sounded more a plea than a question.

Jensen smiled, green eyes just as beautiful, lips just as full as he remembered.  He dropped the shot onto the bar and there was a hesitancy to his movements that reminded Jared all too much of the way things had been between them, before the end

“It’s been a long time.  I heard you were in town but I didn’t expect to find you at a bar tonight.”

“Liar,” Jared said before he could stop himself

Jensen’s smile turned warmer then as he took the last of the shots Jared had lined up and downed it.  “Alright, they said you’d be here.”

“Who is they?”

“The guys at the precinct,” Jensen reached into his pocket and Jared had time to really take a look at Jensen.  He was in jeans with a dark tee-shirt and jacket thrown over it.  He still wore cowboy boots though, even if his jeans did look iron-pressed and designer-priced.  He pulled out an ID and Jared was surprised by the type of shield he was met with.

“You’re a Fed?”

“You’re a cop?” Jensen fired back.  There was a smile in his eyes as he said it thought and Jared couldn’t help but meet it

“So, you came looking for me?” he asked.  He caught the bartender’s eye and gestured for more drinks for the two of them and turned his attention back to Jensen

“You didn’t think three murders like this was going to stay under the FBI’s radar, did you?”

Jared almost smiled.  “No, I guess not.  Just hoped to have it solved before you guys came in and tried to steal our parade.”

“I’m not going to steal your parade Jared,” Jensen said as he took the first of the three shots the bartender lined up for him.  “I’m going to fucking rain on it.”  He downed all three shots without hesitation and smiled as he stepped up close to Jared.  “And you’ll thank me when I’m done.”

When he walked out a second later Jared just watched him go, unable to say a damn word

Jesus fucking Christ.  Jensen Ackles.  Jensen Ackles, FBI.  He was so fucking screwed.

**

“What the hell?”

“Jim?” Jared asked, as he stepped into the room.

“What the hell?”  Jared knew Jim needed time to get himself together now that they were at the crime scene but his partner was normally pretty steady.  He didn’t react to a scene like that, especially not to one that was almost common place.  “Why today?  Why another one already?”

Jared sighed.  “Victim number four,” he said as he looked at the body in front of them.  Stabbed in the heart, left lying in a motel bed, dark hair and what he was sure would be hazel eyes if he looked.  He trusted that Jim already had.  “New one only a day after the last.”

“What causes that sort of escalation?” Jim asked aloud.  “We had almost two months between the last two victims.  Why is he doing this now?”

“Perhaps you ought to let the professionals handle this?” A voice called into the room.

Jared spun around to find Jensen Ackles walking into his crime scene in a black suit that screamed Men In Black louder than Will Smith ever did.  He flashed his badge at Jim and held his hand out.  Jim took it as Jensen began to speak again.  “Jensen Ackles.  You’ll meet my partner, Collins, later.  You boys don’t mind sharing this one, do you?”

Jim looked at Jared, aware of the fact that Jensen had just ignored Jared completely.  “Don’t have much of a choice do we?”

Jensen smiled at Jim.  “I don’t want to steal your parade,” he said, looking at Jared for the first time.  “This is the fourth victim you’ve got right?”

“We’re still running ID for one of the victims and the last one is hardly cold.  We’re still running background information on him.”

As much as Jared wished they could hold information back on the case he knew they couldn’t and no matter who Jensen Ackles was, Jared knew how to do his job

“We can get you copies of the reports if you let us know where to send them,” Jared said.

Jensen smiled.  “Your office will do fine.  I’m sure the local department will be able to give us some space.”

Jim nodded and Jensen looked back at Jared again.  “You were saying about the victims?”

Jim looked at him and Jared really wanted a minute with his partner to explain some things but Jensen wasn’t giving him that chance.  “As Jim was saying when you walked in, there were almost two months between the first three murders, but only a single night before the fourth.  All the victims were found stabbed three times in the chest.  They were all left in a motel room where no one saw them entering and no one saw the killer leave.  The victims were all male with dark hair, hazel eyes, and tall.”

“How tall?” Jensen asked.

“6’3” was the shortest victim.”

“Sounds like our killer has a type.”

“That’s what they taught you at the FBI?” Jared asked Jensen.

Jensen smiled.  “Let’s get back to the office and I’ll show you what the FBI taught me.”

**

The conference room had been handed over to the two FBI agents and there were boards set up around the room with far more than the four cases they’d just taken over.  Jim’s eyes were wide as he watched as the other FBI agent, Misha Collins, put up the latest information.

Jensen stood at the front of the room looking smug.  “There are over thirty seven cases that match the four you gave us and they extend back over nine years.  They cross state lines and seem to be seasonal.  No one has been able to establish why the pattern holds to certain seasons but we assume it means something to the killer.”

“That’s a long time to track a killer,” Jim said as he looked around the room

“It took a long time to realize the pattern and when we did, the FBI got involved.”

“Who the hell tracked all this?” Jim asked.  Jared was just stunned at the magnitude of what he was seeing.  He knew, but seeing it lined up like that was something else.  Seeing Jensen in the middle of it all was something else.

“I did,” Jensen said softly.  He looked at Jim then and didn’t flinch.  “I’ve been tracking him for nine years.  I joined the FBI five years ago, but I’ve been tracking this killer for a long time.”

“Why?” Jared dared to ask.

Jensen looked at him, eyes alight with something he couldn’t read.  “Victim number one was my college boyfriend.”

The room was silent for a moment but then Jim let out a huff.  “If you’re waiting for someone to make an issue out of being gay you’re in the wrong room,” he said as he got out of his chair.  “So long as you keep everything else on the up and up, I don’t care that you knew a vic.  Just tell us what you have on this maniac.”

“Male, mid-twenties.  He’s precise and cautious.  He overpowers his victims but there isn’t much of a struggle on the scene so he’s either that much bigger than them or he has some way to subdue them that we haven’t been able to deduce yet.  No one close by has ever heard anything like glass breaking or loud noises in the room next to them, though they’ve all been in motels when they were killed.”

“What was your boyfriend doing in a motel room?” Jim asked.

“Waiting for someone else,” Jensen replied without hesitation.  “There were no physical samples left behind at the scenes but there is evidence that all the victims had sexual intercourse before the time of death so we think the victims may be too relaxed to realize their danger before they are killed.”

“Or they’re too fucked out,” Collins said as he walked in the room.

Jared couldn’t contain his glare, but neither did Jensen so he figured Collins was used to it.  “Tact, Misha.  We’ve talked about this concept before.”

Collins – Misha – stopped and looked at Jensen for a second before smiling.  “That’s what you’re for.  I’m here purely for analysis.”

Jensen rolled his eyes.  “The question is how to catch the killer.  Other than knowing what he looks for in a victim we don’t have much to go on.”

“So what is the plan?”

“I think a press conference is out of the question.  The type of men he targets aren’t going to stop going out because of a warning and they might go out just to prove they aren’t afraid.  I think we need to focus on the latest victim.  He escalated.  Maybe he made a mistake.”

**

“We got something.”  Misha called into the room a few minutes after they’d gotten started.

“Misha if this is something about an STD-“

“He used his credit card at a club the night he was killed.  He closed his tab out around midnight.”

Jensen was up on his feet as soon as Collins started and Jared was with him.  Jensen took one look at him and smiled.  “Alright Padalecki, with me.”

Collins had the address sent to their phones a second later and they were on the road, with Jim left scowling back at the office.

“You’re partner doesn’t seem too happy to be left behind,” Jensen said as Jared settled behind the steering wheel

“He knows something isn’t right and we haven’t had time to talk yet.”

“Are you going to tell him, Jared, about us?”

Jared ignored the question and drove.

**

“You’ve been here before,” Jensen said into his ear as they stood at the bar.  It was supposed to be an undercover operation in the off chance they could catch the killer, but since they had no idea what he looked like they were really just there because Jensen seemed to want to be there.  He’d sent Jim and Misha to another bar that the last victim had been to a few nights before but there was even less hope there.  Jensen seemed to like to be thorough though

“So have you,” Jared reminded him.  It was the same bar that Jensen had found him in before and Jared was surprised Jim had yet to remember that Jared had been there the same night as the victim.  Or maybe he’d realized it and known Jared would have spoken up if he’d seen anything.

“Following you.”

“Maybe you’re the killer,” Jared said, turning to look down at Jensen as he sat on the bar stool beside him.  “The few people that remembered the man who checked out said he had green eyes.”

Jensen laughed at that.  “So I started a killing spree and then joined the FBI?  To what?”

“Learn to be better?  To catch others and make them stop in the way you couldn’t?  Maybe because the people you killed deserved to die, but the other serial killers were just plain killers who just psychotic and deserved to be stopped?”

Jensen listened to him like he was speaking the gospel, then smiled again.  “Bullshit.  If I were doing something like that, I’d so it just because I could.  To rub it in their noses that they didn’t understand what made me tick.”

Jared laughed at that.  “Maybe a little of that too.”

Shots were set on the bar in front of them and Jared looked at Jensen.  “We’re on the clock.”

“There’s only one way the killer is coming out tonight and that is if his victim of choice is out on the dance floor.  Better move your ass, Padalecki.”

Jensen downed the two shots of whiskey in front of him before heading towards the dance floor.  Jared did one shot and let the other sit.  He needed to keep a clear head for tonight.  He had plans and nothing Jensen did was going to change that.  He hurried onto the dance floor though because the club was packed and Jensen was surrounded by a swirling mass of men all trying to get closer.  With his height and build he rarely had trouble getting through the crown and tonight was no different.  He found Jensen in the center of the floor and wrapped his fingers around his hip bones.  When he pulled, Jensen went easily and his body pulled tight against Jared’s

“This isn’t exactly how I thought tonight would go,” he said into Jensen’s ear.

Jensen spun out but came right back to him, smiling up at Jared.  “Why do you think I brought you back here tonight, Jared?”

“To catch a criminal.”

“Really?”

“You’re being thorough.”

“I am, but it’s not really the job I’m interested in tonight.”

“What are you interested in then?”

Jensen grabbed Jared by the back of the neck and pulled him down until their lips met.  Jared was too surprised to do anything at first but then he wrapped his arms around Jensen’s waist and pulled him in close.  The music was pumping around them and the crowd pushed in from all sides, but all Jared knew was the man in his arms

When Jensen finally pulled away, he licked his lips before smiling up at Jared.  “You coming?”

“Absolutely,” he said as Jensen led him off the dance floor and towards the door.

His heart was racing as Jensen led him back to the car.  It was parked in the club lot but towards the back where it was dark and unnoticed.  Jared wondered if he chose it for that reason, or if he’d just been lucky.  Either way, Jared counted himself lucky tonight.

When Jensen opened the back door, Jared crawled in with Jensen right behind him.  It was still warm out and Jensen didn’t bother to wait.  He pulled his tee-shirt over his head, throwing it into the front seat.

“Don’t plan on taking your time, do you?” Jared asked as he pulled his own shirt off.

“I know what I want,” Jensen said as he leaned in and licked a trail up Jared’s neck

Jared grabbed him by the arms, forcing him back so he could look him in the eye.  “Do you?”

Jensen looked at him, green eyes as expressive as they ever were.

As they were in college when he was the teaching assistant that Jared idolized.

When he was the young man Jared realized he was attracted to

When he was the young man Jared found crying over some loser who was sleeping with someone else.

When he realized just what Jared had done to the man that had hurt him.

“I know.”

“You think after all this time you can just say that and it makes it all better?”

“Yes.  Thirty seven men died and I know why now.”

“Because they fucked you.”

“No, that’s not why they died Jared.”

“No?  I’m pretty sure that’s it.”

Jensen laughed above him, not seeming to care that Jared still held his arms tight enough to leave bruises.  “You joined the cops because you wanted to understand right from wrong.  You wanted to understand what made you able to kill men who look a lot like you and still be the kind of man that posts pictures of lost puppies and feeds stray kittens.  You donate to the homeless shelter and you take care of the people on the streets.  You joined because it helped you understand the part of you that needs to be with me.  And you didn’t kill those men because they were with me, but because they weren’t worthy of me.”

Jared closed his eyes, finally letting go of Jensen’s hands.  Jensen didn’t move away though.  Instead, he leaned closer to Jared and smiled against the skin of his throat.  “I struggled to understand Jared.  I studied psychology and I worked with murderers so I could learn about you and it never fit.  Until I realized you weren’t a murderer.  You were an angel, sent to take care of me.”

“Do you believe that?” Jared asked.

“You do and that’s all that mattered when I was trying to understand you.  It’s why you come for me every year and find all the men that I’ve been with and kill them.  It’s why I pick the ones most like him.”

Jensen smiled at him and there was something wicked in it.  “You could have been one of them Jared,” he confessed.  “You have the right look, the right strength in your shoulders, the size of your hands.  I’d have given you a night.  But I think I’ll give you something better now.”

“And what is that?”

“Stop.  Stop killing and I’ll give you everything.”

“Everything?  What makes you think I could stop, Jensen?  You know the psychology.  You think I can really stop?”

Jensen kissed his throat and sat back.  “I think you’ll stop for me Jared,” Jensen answered.  “You’ll stop because you can’t resist what I have to offer you.”

“So we just leave these crimes unsolved?” Jared asked.

“Yes.  Unsolved.  Did you know I moved into the city?”

Jared let out a deep breath.  “Yes.”

“I knew you were here Jared and I didn’t want to wait any longer.  I ran when I was younger.  I didn’t understand what you’d given me.  I do now.  You didn’t take life away from me when you killed him.”

“I didn’t.”

“You gave me life.  You gave me freedom and a choice.”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t understand back then.”

Jared dropped his hands to Jensen’s waist and looked up at him, need and fear driving him to ask the next question

“And now you’re offering me everything?  Forever?  You and me? Even knowing everything that I’ve done?  Knowing the lie I’ve been leading with my life?”

Jensen smiled as he leaned over and kissed Jared softly.  “Yes and not in spite of what I know, Jared.”

Jared looked up at him with the same wonder he had as a younger man, love and lust caught so thickly in his throat he couldn’t speak.  In those days, he’d held his hands out, red and dripping and Jensen had run, never telling anyone what he’d seen but never letting Jared close again.

“I love you,” Jared admitted, afraid that if he didn’t say it now he’d never get the chance again

Jensen closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to Jared’s before kissing him slowly

“I know.”

**

There was never a lead on the murders so the police and FBI gave up the manhunt

Jensen Ackles was criticized by his superiors for not finding the murderer but when the next year came around, there were no new killings

Jared Padalecki moved into a better neighborhood because his boyfriend worked for the Feds and had a bigger paycheck than he did

They saved two dogs from the pound and fed stray kittens on their back porch.  They worked and played and loved together and lived happily ever after.  And so did all the people Jared didn’t kill – because he kept his promise and loved Jensen well enough that he never had cause to want another ever again.   

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://violetknights.livejournal.com/profile)[violetknights](http://violetknights.livejournal.com/) for the [](http://spn-j2-xmas.livejournal.com/profile)[spn_j2_xmas](http://spn-j2-xmas.livejournal.com/) challenge! You said you liked serial killer/people who catch them fics. Hope you enjoy it!


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